The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFMA) is concerned about the continued detention of three journalists, Hamid Mahmoud, Mahaman Sani and Massaouda Jaharou of Agadez-based Sahara FM in Niger and calls for their unconditional release.
The three journalists were initially detained on May 8, 2025 after their station aired a news article originally published by France-based online outlet, LSI Africa. The LSI Africa story had claimed that Niger had discreetly terminated its intelligence cooperation with Russia and Turkey over ineffective equipment.
On May 9, 2025 the journalists were released by a judge on the grounds that there was no legal basis to keep them in custody. However, later that night, the three journalists were re-arrested by security officials. For the second arrest of the journalists, no one knows exactly what the charges against them are.
On May 14, 2025, the three journalists were transferred from Agadez to the Niamey State Prison.
Talking to the MFWA on a phone call, the Director of Sahara FM said they were at a complete loss, and unable to find a way forward. They are deeply troubled, and so are the families of the detained journalists.
The MFWA condemns the detention of the Sahara FM journalists, who have been imprisoned without trial, despite the fact that they had been previously released through a legal process about the same case. Their detention is a flagrant violation of press freedom and freedom of expression rights as guaranteed in the Nigerien Constitution. We call on the authorities to release the journalists with immediate effect.